JCU remembers art history lecturer after fatal drive-by shooting

The University suffered the tragic loss of faculty member David Wilder on Saturday, March 25. Lecturer in the art history department for over 15 years, Wilder, was killed in a drive-by shooting on the East side of Cleveland. He would have been 62 years old this year.

He received his undergraduate degree from Rhode Island School of Design, which, at the time was one of the premier art schools in the United States. He went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at Kent State University.

At Carroll, Wilder taught the Introduction to Art History course as well as classes in studio art and began teaching a relatively new painting course, AH 242, this semester. Aside from Carroll, he worked at Cuyahoga Community College teaching Introduction to Asian Art and taught at Cleveland State University, teaching Introduction to African Art.

When he wasn’t teaching, he acted as a founding member and co-chair of the Ohio Part Time Faculty Association. It was formed in 2013 to support adjunct faculty by helping them to organize and transform their working conditions. He was involved in co-organizing events for this association including picnics, information sessions on unemployment for adjuncts and public demonstrations and petition drives. Some of these included “Adjunct Dignity Day 2015” and “Cultivating an Ethics of the Public Good” at John Carroll.

He also helped to found the Ohio Higher Education Coalition, which is a group of faculty, students and community members dedicated to equity and justice in Ohio higher education. He was heavily involved in the New Faculty Majority, which is a group that aims to improve the quality of higher education by advancing professional equity and securing academic freedom for all adjunct and contingent faculty.

The OPTFA wrote on their website that, “David was unafraid to speak up about the urgent need to end the disrespectful and detrimental employment practices that prevent adjuncts and their students from experiencing the true promise of education. He was an accomplished artist with an eye for quiet and unusual beauty and was ever conscious of the important role of art in advancing social justice.”

Art history professor at Carroll, Leslie Curtis said, “David was a very kind and thoughtful person, who nevertheless was a determined and successful activist. He was a talented artist and a loyal and courageous friend.”

Curtis’ last memory of Wilder was having dinner with him a week ago at the Cleveland Museum of Art. After dinner, Wilder wanted to walk through the African Art galleries. “It was a distinct pleasure to hear him talk about the works in the context of the course he was teaching at Cleveland State. David had a keen intelligence and was eager to share and exchange ideas with anyone. We will miss him and his kindness and generosity of spirit,” said Curtis.

Administrative assistant in the psychology department, Ruta Marino said, “When I worked in the art history department, David would ask me to reserve the former Dolan gallery space during exam week so he could have an exhibition during exam period. It was always fun to see the students’ work, especially when he had each of them do one section of the same scene. David was devoted to bringing out the best of each student’s abilities. He was also dedicated to his own creative work which wasn’t easy given the necessity facing all adjunct faculty: to juggle teaching at several institutions in any given semester with no guarantees for the following semesters.”

Senior Brittany Antognazzi expressed her condolences on the Go Fund Me page for Wilder’s funeral expenses. “I am deeply saddened by the loss of his kind and caring soul. I have only known him for a short period of time at John Carroll, but he had an amazing personality that resonated with everyone in the room. He will be so missed. My heart is open to his friends and family,” she said.

David taught a number of classes at several universities in order to make ends meet and worked on the weekends for a catering service. Before his death, he had recently learned that he would have a full time position, at least for one year, at one of the schools where he had worked part time.

Some of his paintings can be found on www.wilderpaintings.com. Reproductions of his paintings served as the covers for several books by George Bilgere, poet and faculty member of the English department.

His Go Fund Me Page for funeral expenses is https://www.gofundme.com/funeral-expenses-for-david-wilder. On the page, Courtney Whitman said, “I took a class taught by Professor Wilder last semester and I’m better for it. A great teacher and so clearly passionate about the arts. Rest easy.”